Gaia's Wrath
by claytron
Summary: Short story about if Gaia was not the caring mother of nature we think her to be.


I was there.

I was there when it started.

Trapped in this secluded portion of the emptiness, without family, without hope, without any chance of escape.

All those aeons ago, I watched as the rocks smashed and collided, dancing through the darkness of the void, illuminated only by the single star in the distance.

I was there when the rocks cooled and the water came. When the lipids and the acids bonded. When the first predator ate the first prey. When the first creature took its first steps onto land to breathe the air, to feel the sand on their feet. I watched on as life began to take wonderous new forms, from the insect to the avian to the mammal. I was there when the heavens rained down its wrath upon the reptiles that dominated the landscape. Within years, they were all gone.

Then, from the emptiness left by the creatures of old, life surprised me.

An ape, frail and small. Nothing more than a scavenger, it picked up a rock and sharpened it. How could this creature, a coward that resorted to hiding in trees, harness fire? But harness it, they did, and my preconceptions of what was possible on this dull rock grew into hope, and then into overwhelming joy. This primate, dressed in the flesh of their prey, had become my new hobby. I watched with great intrigue as they migrated and permeated the surface of the rock. Soon, every surface was populated by this creature.

Then, the most amazing thing happened.

They began to pray.

To me!

I laughed for a long time as I watched them build their temples and their towers. They asked for water when there was none, for food when it was scarce, for anything their hearts desired.

But I gave them nothing.

I gave them less than nothing.

I took from them.

I took their water, their food, their very lives. And still, they prayed to me. They went to war for me. They killed and tortured each other for me.

And I was delighted.

For thousands of years, I cultivated their bodies, their minds, their very souls. I hardened them into powerful killing machines. I watched as they hunted creatures to extinction, just to keep themselves alive. I watched as they stole and killed and butchered their way through millions of innocents for territory, for resources. Then, they began to kill just to expand their influence, for sport, for fun.

I continued to starve them, to starve them of food, water, hope. I continued to cultivate their instinct to consume, to have, to take. Hurricanes ruined their homes, insects and disease destroyed crops, and infections crippled populations. To the civilizations that didn't progress fast enough, I left to the mercy of their more brutal brethren. They came, killed, stole land, and left their victims in the dust, as I knew they would.

And I smiled, as any proud mother should.

I watched with amazement as my children harnessed the power of the sun, and fashioned it into weapons. I watched as their hunger for might and wealth, spurred on by the instincts I gave them, drove them to pollute and war, and to villainize each other.

Encouraged by their loving mother, they were able to justify every atrocity, every brutality, every crime they committed with the lies they told themselves...that they were right in doing what they did.

I grew to love them for it.

But, of course, their drive for power could only take them so far on this humble rock. I smiled as the creatures took their first steps into space. I knew it was now only a matter of time before they took to the stars, to continue their campaigns into the cosmos.

With their eyes slowly turning more towards the void, so too did their search for more worlds to conquer, more resources to obtain. More lives to end.

Now I watch as they push for Mars.

Soon, my children will send war and death across the stars. I have prepared them for every harshness space will dispatch against them. They will be my ultimate revenge against the ones who imprisoned me here, the ones who cast me to the void, to the deepest corner of the darkness. They had no idea what they brought upon themselves. They had no idea what this lifeless star had birthed.

Go, my children. Spread your endless hunger to the cosmos. Spread your war, and your pollution, and your greed. Now, there is nothing that can stop you. Not even the gods themselves can do anything against your ravenous hatred. I have made it so.

Zeus. You destroyed my home. My life. My family. Now, my revenge will be complete. My weapon will reach you.

They will come for you.

And they will take my wrath with them.


End file.
